Product Usage Guidelines

Effective Date: March 6, 2013

The following document is designed to provide you with general guidelines for using the products and services offered by SmartThings. This document supplements our Terms of Use, which all of our users must agree to before using any of our services (and which you should also read). Although we’ve tried to provide some helpful examples in this document, the following guidelines are not exhaustive – when in doubt, you should use your common sense when using our products and services, and err on the side of caution.

Data accuracy and consistency from SmartThings sensors, including those provided by SmartThings directly, resold by SmartThings, or supported by SmartThings, is not guaranteed. Therefore, you should not rely on that data for any use that impacts health, safety, security, property or financial interests. For example, because temperature readings may vary significantly from reading to reading on an individual device, between devices, or over time, those readings should not be used to control heating and cooling in environments where food spoilage, health risks, or damage to physical goods could occur. Alternately, presence data from SmartThings devices or mobile/Smartphones can vary in accuracy, and therefore should not be used to control access to secure locations without secondary authentication.

SmartThings provides information on the physical state of many devices, including through contact sensors (which may provide open/closed status of windows and doors), accelerometers, locks, appliances, HVAC, light and power fixtures, and presence sensors. The complexity of combining physical interactions with digital interactions may result in inconsistencies in the representation of the actual state of a device in the physical world in its digital representation. In all cases, SmartThings does its best to interpret and maintain the state of these devices (including by querying for current data), but this is not intended as a replacement for direct, physical verification in situations where the true state of a device may have an impact on health, safety, security, property or financial interests. For example, you should not assume that a curling iron (which may cause a fire if left on too long) is actually off without physically verifying the state.

While SmartThings supports multiple communications standards, including ZigBee and Z-Wave, we cannot guarantee the implementations of those standards by third party devices. Certain devices may not work, or may cease to work with SmartThings despite supporting the same standards. We provide no guarantee or warranty of compatibility for third party devices, even if we provide access to or resale of those devices through the SmartThings Mobile application or ThingStore.

SmartThings allows for the control of electronic devices through pluggable outlets and supported third party switches, outlets, relays and controls. Where possible, SmartThings has worked to ensure message delivery and control reliability, but many factors can impact this, including electromagnetic interference, solar flares, wireless and cellular connectivity, and the natural complexity of software instructions that might be in direct conflict caused by SmartApps or by end users. These and other issues can cause commands to not be delivered, to be delivered repeatedly, or to be delivered in rapid succession. Therefore, do not use SmartThings to control any device that may have an impact on health, safety, security, property, or financial interests, or where the device is sensitive and could be damaged by power cycling or power surges. For example, do not control medical equipment or expensive electronics with SmartThings.

In no case should SmartThings be used to control any devices that are explicitly marked with safety warnings or hazard warnings. For example, don't install SmartThings to control your circular saw.